Go Downstairs

I knew we didn’t have time to fight about it so I snatched the box from his hands almost spilling out the contents. “Fine.” I growled.

“Thank you.” He said, bitterly.

I rolled my eyes and was about to go down the stairs, but I turned around before descending and caught Daryl’s eyes. He nodded at me, his eyes telling me that it was best that I went with the others. I gave a slight nod back even though I wasn’t too thrilled about having to be stuck with the wimpy women who couldn’t defend themselves; especially Lori.

I slowly turned back around and climbed down the stairs, holding the box against my hip so I could see the steps. It was dark and damp in the basement. The walls and floor were concrete grey; shelves lined the back wall filled with random items like books, tools, and papers. The single lightbulb hanging from a chain in the middle of the room was dim and swaying back and forth from the movement upstairs. There was an old couch sitting against one of the walls and a couple of wooden chairs on the opposite side.

I set down the box near the stairs then took a seat in one of the chairs. Maggie, Beth, and Patricia were all sitting together on the couch; Beth was crying on Maggie’s shoulder and Pat was holding her hand.

I turned my attention to the stairs when I heard someone coming down them. It was Carol followed closely by Carl and then Lori. Subconsciously my hands curled into fists as soon as I saw her. They scanned the basement just as I had before walking over to the chairs next to me. Carol sat in the one right next to me and Lori and Carl sat next to her. I scooted my chair slightly away from them; the last thing I needed was to lose my temper and cause our own riot.

I tried not to look at Lori as she began to speak.

“They’re going to be okay. They’re all going to be just fine.” I wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince the others or herself.

Maggie let out a weird hiccup and held her breath before speaking, “They better be. My daddy, Glenn, everyone else, they better make it out alive. If they don’t—” She suddenly looked from Lori to me. She didn’t say anything more, she didn’t have to. I knew they were all angry with my decision. I was angry too that I was forced to go down here and miss out; I had thought they would need all the help they could get. Rick was being extra cautious now with who was going to risk their lives and who wasn’t. What he didn’t understand was that I didn’t care.

I crossed my arms and slouched in the chair. It was quiet upstairs, no gunfire yet, only something heavy being drug across the floor. None of us said a word, Beth was still sniffling, Carol was making a tapping noise with her foot, and Carl was whispering to his mother.

I stood up and walked near the stairs. That’s when I heard Lori’s voice again.

“Were you there?”

I didn’t realize she was speaking to me until she asked again, “Were you there?”

“Was I where?” I gave her my best look of confusion; I knew what she was talking about.

“I mean… did you see Shane… you know…?”

“Oh.” I shrugged. I could feel my cheeks get red, “Yeah, I was there.”

“Oh god…” she muttered under her breath.

I sat down on the bottom stair and clenched my fists tight. I didn’t want her to talk to me about this… I didn’t want to lose it in front of everyone. That’s when I felt the bottom stair sink lower and I turned to see her sitting next to me.

“Can… can you tell me? Tell me what happened?” she went to touch my leg but I instinctively moved it away.

You’re pushin’ it. I thought to myself but gave a weak smile instead.

“I’m not sure you wanna hear it from my point of view.”

“What do you mean?” she tried to touch my leg again, I moved even further away.

“I mean I’m not sure if I should be the one to tell you.” I bit my tongue. Being nice to her was definitely hard.

“Please… can you please just tell me?”

I had to make a quick decision, did I want to…

Lie To Her

Tell Her the Truth